I'm off to the bookstore today, I plan on picking up some books for standardized test prep, Arabic, and Koine Greek. I've always told myself that if I could learn a third language it would be Koine Greek, so I could read the Scriptures, the Fathers, and (many of) the hymns of the Church in their original language. Any ideas on what books I should get to get myself started?

In Christ,Severian

EDIT: On my Arabic thread Cyrillic gave me the following suggestions:

Quote

The Fathers and the Scriptures are a lot easier than the classical works. The best thing you could do is buy a Greek-English dictionary (preferably Liddle-Scott) and learn declensions. Doulos, doulou, douloi, etc. You can always check for words in the dictionary, grammar, and specifically declensions, are very important.

Is there any more advice you guys could give me?

« Last Edit: April 21, 2013, 04:41:00 PM by Severian »

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"I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die [...] These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." -The Lord Jesus Christ

No longer active on OC.net. Please pray for me and forgive any harm I might have caused by my ignorance and malice. Pls email me, don't send PMs.

I'm off to the bookstore today, I plan on picking up some books for standardized test prep, Arabic, and Koine Greek. I've always told myself that if I could learn a third language it would be Koine Greek, so I could read the Scriptures, the Fathers, and (many of) the hymns of the Church in their original language. Any ideas on what books I should get to get myself started?

In Christ,Severian

EDIT: On my Arabic thread Cyrillic gave me the following suggestions:

Quote

The Fathers and the Scriptures are a lot easier than the classical works. The best thing you could do is buy a Greek-English dictionary (preferably Liddle-Scott) and learn declensions. Doulos, doulou, douloi, etc. You can always check for words in the dictionary, grammar, and specifically declensions, are very important.

Is there any more advice you guys could give me?

Get a frequency dictionary. I'll see about digging mine out, to tell you the title. It is excellent as guide to vocabulary learning.

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Question a friend, perhaps he did not do it; but if he did anything so that he may do it no more.A hasty quarrel kindles fire,and urgent strife sheds blood.If you blow on a spark, it will glow;if you spit on it, it will be put out; and both come out of your mouth

When I was perusing the library of the University of Leiden I accidentally (well, it wasn't really accidentally) ended up in the patristics section where I found a huge Patristic Greek dictionary. It was the biggest book I've ever seen. I found a digital copy on the internet. You might find it useful. It has a lot of words you'll find in the Fathers but not in Liddle and Scott.

Oh, and welcome to the select few that are learning Greek. We have cookies.

« Last Edit: April 22, 2013, 01:09:28 PM by Cyrillic »

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That is the land of lost content, I see it shining plain, The happy highways where I went And cannot come again.-A.E. Housman

Here's the Psalter according to the LXX (Koine Greek), recorded by the same reader. IIRC it used to be available from the same site (?) for free at one point. On the site of the Greek Bible Society they say there's a recording of the entire LXX Old Testament coming up.

When I was perusing the library of the University of Leiden I accidentally (well, it wasn't really accidentally) ended up in the patristics section where I found a huge Patristic Greek dictionary. It was the biggest book I've ever seen. I found a digital copy on the internet. You might find it useful. It has a lot of words you'll find in the Fathers but not in Liddle and Scott.

Oh, and welcome to the select few that are learning Greek. We have cookies.

No Baklava?

You never came across Lampe befoe?

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Question a friend, perhaps he did not do it; but if he did anything so that he may do it no more.A hasty quarrel kindles fire,and urgent strife sheds blood.If you blow on a spark, it will glow;if you spit on it, it will be put out; and both come out of your mouth

The best advice I can give is: learn Greek in a classroom setting. That's the only real way to learn it, I think.

That's what I thought too. I just wanted to introduce myself to the basics of the language before I got serious about studying it. That being said, I want to focus a lot more on my Arabic, as I have a strong foundation in that language.

Thank you all for your advice, especially you, Cyrillic.

« Last Edit: April 23, 2013, 08:54:36 PM by Severian »

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"I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die [...] These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." -The Lord Jesus Christ

No longer active on OC.net. Please pray for me and forgive any harm I might have caused by my ignorance and malice. Pls email me, don't send PMs.

If you're getting better at Greek I recommend the Patristic Greek Reader. It's a book with some nice Patristic texts (St. Gregory the Theologian, the Didache, the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, etc.) with a word list at the end of the book and notes at the bottom of each page what difficult passages and words mean. Oh, and there are translations of those passages in there too so you could check your work.

« Last Edit: April 24, 2013, 04:48:31 AM by Cyrillic »

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That is the land of lost content, I see it shining plain, The happy highways where I went And cannot come again.-A.E. Housman

Question a friend, perhaps he did not do it; but if he did anything so that he may do it no more.A hasty quarrel kindles fire,and urgent strife sheds blood.If you blow on a spark, it will glow;if you spit on it, it will be put out; and both come out of your mouth

"I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die [...] These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." -The Lord Jesus Christ

No longer active on OC.net. Please pray for me and forgive any harm I might have caused by my ignorance and malice. Pls email me, don't send PMs.

The best advice I can give is: learn Greek in a classroom setting. That's the only real way to learn it, I think.

And I've heard good things about this book You should see if your library has it. I've read it a bit and it looks like something you really want to have.

I'll second this. It's too hard to learn a language unless you are forced to engage it. Even more than a living language, the best way to learn a classic language is to shell out money for school and force yourself to conform to a set schedule.

But if you want to prepare: I think if you learn maybe a few hundred words via flash cards, and the basics of conjugating that would be an easy and terrific head start.

« Last Edit: November 04, 2015, 05:28:15 PM by William T »

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“Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord."

"And The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth"

^I might be able to squeeze in a few semesters before I finish undergrad.

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"I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die [...] These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." -The Lord Jesus Christ

No longer active on OC.net. Please pray for me and forgive any harm I might have caused by my ignorance and malice. Pls email me, don't send PMs.

I haven't done a lot of sit-and-read for Koine Greek. Studying grammar and reading interlinear bilingual version of the Bible online, however, has taught me a lot. BibleHub has a fine interlinear version of the New Testament, and so does Katabiblon for the Septuagint.

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"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." (Psalm 90:1)